


Sticks And Spells

by love_killed_the_superstar



Series: But Beautiful We Three Are [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, Gen, Injury Recovery, Minor Injuries, Young Love, crappy art inside too, for once blue actually gets annoyed at pearl hold onto your seats folks, pearl also has a huge crush on rose but it isn't explicitly said just really implied? um, pearlshipping bomb, polypearls, polypearls bomb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-19 23:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7382086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/love_killed_the_superstar/pseuds/love_killed_the_superstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>2. “You know, if Yellow finds out about this she'll kill you before the pain will.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sticks And Spells

**Author's Note:**

> remember how i was gonna do a bunch of different aus? eh, screw that. i'm sticking with the hogwarts au because i'm boring and predictable. also i have a whole lot of juicy polypearls hogwarts headcanons and everything, i even know what kind of wands they have and stuff (pearl's is an aspen wood - great for duelling, as you'll find out in a moment). so, i think this is going to be the au i'm going with for this bomb. i hope everyone still likes the hogwarts aus at least, even if a lot of people are going off hp this year.

“You know, if Yellow finds out about this she'll kill you before the pain will.”

“Can't you lecture me later? This is frustrating enough already, without you treating me like a child.”

Blue clicked her tongue, but said nothing, instead standing at the barrels near the kitchens expectantly. Pearl lifted her wand and tapped the correct barrel, and sure enough the barrel swung open, revealing a dark corridor sloping downwards to the Hufflepuff common room.

“You twisted your ankle, so badly that you can't even walk and enlisted me to carry you bridal style back to the dorms, and you don't think you deserve to be treated like a child?” Blue was incredulous. “You could have been really hurt. And I still don't know why you won't let me take you to the Hospital Wing.”

“Because you know if we get found out the club will be disbanded, and Rose and Garnet could get in a lot of trouble,” Pearl said with a frown. “I'd never forgive myself if I was the reason for the end of the Crystal Gems.”

Ah, the Crystal Gems. Blue rolled her eyes, which were thankfully hidden beneath her mop of hair. The disadvantage to being in different classes to Pearl was that both her and Yellow had no way of keeping an eye on her, meaning it was easy for older students to swoop down and take advantage of her. One such student was a fourth year, Rose Quartz, who had more charisma than anyone she had ever met. With long pink curls, dark alluring eyes and voluptuous curves, it was difficult not to be drawn in by her, and Pearl had always fallen prey to pretty women (now that they'd grown up a little more, Blue was beginning to figure out why).

Rose and her second-in-command, Garnet, had recently re-established the duelling club at Hogwarts, and they hadn't exactly gotten permission from a supervising professor, meaning its reputation had rocketed to the Hogwarts equivalent of Fight Club. The principle of secrecy was also kept in tact, and Pearl had been swept away right from under Blue and Yellow's noses. She'd always been fond of watching the older kids in the street duelling while growing up, and had even taken up fencing for a short while before the ballet accident that left her leg broken in two places, so it wasn't surprising that she'd jumped at the idea of the secret duelling club (dubbed the Crystal Gems by Rose, to maintain anonymity among outsiders).

Tonight, however, was the first time Blue had followed Pearl's steps to see what exactly went down. Her and Yellow had both noticed that Pearl had seemed distracted and tired in the past few weeks, with erratic injuries such as cuts, bruises and scrapes along her arms, legs and face. She'd become defensive upon questioning, so Blue had taken matters into her own hands and followed her movements that Thursday night, to a secret room that she didn't remember ever seeing before. She was of small stature which proved useful in sneaking around, and had managed to slip in undetected.

From there, it had been chaos. A dimly lit chamber, with two crowds on either side, and Rose Quartz and Garnet Aberra stood in the middle, plucking volunteers from the crowd to pit against one another in a duel. The winner would go on to duel another opponent, and so on until they had been defeated. Pearl had stepped up, and the crowd was full of jeers because why was a second year stood up there? Why did Rose believe she could defeat Bismuth, reigning champion?

Well, Pearl performed excellently, Blue could admit, even though her heart was pounding with fear the entire time. Disarming spells and summoning spells had been used to really throw her opponent off guard, spells and charms that no ordinary second year would know. But in mind Pearl more than likely surpassed the IQ of a second year, and she had taken the initiative to research unusual spells that would surely take out an unwitting adversary without fail.

The recoil to the finishing move, that blasted Bismuth back and disarmed her instantaneously, resulted in Pearl falling back on her ankle funny, and barely regaining her balance in time. The uproar from this unexpected ending had drowned out her whimper as she gingerly checked her leg, and Rose had dismissed the group shortly after since it was past curfew by this time. Pearl had filed out with the masses, but had only made it as far as the nearest bathroom before being unable to keep walking.

Which was where Blue had found her. She hadn't stopped scolding Pearl for the incident since.

“Maybe,” Blue said through waning patience, after setting Pearl down on the nearest armchair to the entrance, “if Rose actually cared about you and the other members of the club, she'd take more precautions so you didn't seriously injure yourself after one of the duels she arranged for you!”

She squinted in the darkness of the common room, which died down to a dim candle-lit glow at night. Empty, thank goodness.

“She does care about me!” snapped Pearl, raising her voice as her face flushed. Blue reached to elevate her ankle on a canary yellow cushion and was promptly swatted away. “And I'd hardly call a twisted ankle a serious injury! Breaking my leg in multiple places, _that_ was serious. This is nothing, I... I'll go to the Hospital Wing first thing tomorrow, tell Doctor Mahaeswaran I, I twisted it on my way out of bed or something. Happy now?”

“No, I'm not,” Blue said with a frown. She pushed her bangs back in frustration, and Pearl caught a rare glimpse of upset, dark eyes. “What will it be next time, you'll break something? You'll bleed? You'll crack your head open? Rose Quartz is putting you in danger and you're just letting her-”

“I'm trying to get stronger! You wouldn't understand,” Pearl cried, accusingly. “You and Yellow have it all figured out, but me, I-!”

“Keep your voice down,” hissed Blue, and she glanced over at the doorways to the dormitories in fear that they would draw attention. Pearl fell silent abruptly and looked away. Blue perched on the love seat beside her, and exhaled a few moments later at the sound of a barely audible sniff. Predictable; Pearl had always been more sensitive to rejection than her or Yellow. “You're getting so worked up about this. And what do you mean, Yellow and myself have things figured out? What things? What are _you_ struggling with?”

“I already said you wouldn't understand,” Pearl said thickly, and she began to unfasten her tie. “Just forget about it.”

“Pearl, I'm worried about you. We both are, you've been doing nothing but sneaking around and pushing us away lately. Can't you just talk to us?” Blue leaned closer and murmured, “Show me your ankle.”

“I said, it's fine-”

“Show me your ankle, Pearl.”

Pearl did nothing for several long moments, debating whether or not it would escalate the argument further if she ignored the request. Deciding against it in the end, she reluctantly removed her left shoe and tugged down a sock past her ankle, revealing a dark, blooming swell. Blue sucked in a breath and withdrew her wand, a recently polished black walnut wood that glistened like tar in the dim light of the common room.

“Glacius,” Blue said in a hushed tone, and she held her wand just a few inches from Pearl's swollen ankle. The ice that was forming at the end of her wand acted as a cold compress, and immediately Pearl sighed as her body relaxed at the notion. It really did feel nice.

“I'm sorry,” Pearl said quietly, scrubbing at her eyes. “I'm sorry for making you both worry. It's just... sometimes, I feel like – like I'm not good enough, and I feel so wrong inside, and, and duelling and talking to Rose makes that feeling go away for a while. I don't want to stop. Please don't ask me to stop.”

Blue's chest tightened.

“Pearl, listen to me. You are _not_ wrong inside.” She spoke firmly, and brushed her bangs away once more so Pearl could see her sincerity. “And, and I don't know _why_ you don't think you're good enough because when I saw you duelling today you were really good at it. You took down a fourth year, you used spells other second years haven't even heard of, and you held your own. I...” Blue paused, then sighed. “I don't like the Crystal Gems. I don't like that you're doing underground duelling when you should be trying to start an officiated club instead, with safety measures implemented and supervisors and... okay, I'm rambling again, I'm sorry. I don't want you to hurt yourself, but you _are_ good, brilliant even, and I know trying to stop you is only going to make you distance yourself from us more.”

Blue still didn't trust Rose Quartz or Garnet Aberra, and she didn't trust that Pearl wouldn't continue to build up a steady portfolio of scrapes and bruises if she carried on duelling, but it seemed to be something that made Pearl happy, so Blue supposed she'd have to adapt.

Pearl reached over to grab her hand, and they stayed like that for a while, until fatigue drove them to different beds to dream different dreams. It was worth sleep deprivation to see Pearl's faint smile and tired wave before Blue retreated back to the Ravenclaw tower, a spring in her step and warm cheeks, a racing heart.

For now, at least, Pearl was no longer crying.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i swear this was supposed to be shippy but it just didn't turn out that way sorry


End file.
